Ivy
Feminine · Old English roots · “The ivy plant”
Ivy is given to both — 82,713 girls and 3,460 boys since 1880. See Ivy as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Ivy is the English word for the evergreen that keeps its color through winter, and it came into use as a given name during the Victorian enthusiasm for flower and plant names, alongside Rose, Violet and Daisy. Two syllables, both open and bright, with nothing in the spelling to trip anyone up. After a long quiet stretch it has been climbing steadily again, in the US and across the English-speaking world.
How old is the name Ivy?
Ivy was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Ivy is a kid of about 9 — this name's wave is very recent. About 76,000 people named Ivy are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Ivy most popular?
Ivy peaked in 2024, reaching #36 nationally. Today it ranks #39, 3 places below that high. See the whole 2024 chart.
Where it comes from
From īfig (Old English) to Ivy
The story of Ivy
Ivy is an English vocabulary name, taken straight from the plant: Old English īfig, a climber that stays green when everything around it has gone bare. Ivy wreaths were worn at the Greek and Roman festivals of Dionysus and Bacchus, and the plant kept a place in English midwinter custom — the traditional carol "The Holly and the Ivy" pairs the two as evergreens of the season. In Victorian flower symbolism ivy stood for fidelity and lasting attachment, which is part of why it joined the wave of botanical girls' names in nineteenth-century Britain and America. It traveled with English rather than through translation, which is why it charts today in England and Wales, Scotland and Canada in the same form.
Meaning
The ivy plant — the climbing evergreen
From Old English īfig, the ordinary word for the plant, used directly as a name.
How the name formed
- īfigOld English
- ivyEnglish plant name
- Ivy
Related forms: Ivie · Ivey
Pronouncing Ivy
EYE-vee
Two syllables, stress on the first. The pronunciation is settled wherever English is spoken, and matches the plant exactly.
Nicknames for Ivy
Limited
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 20255,117 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #36reached in 2024
- Change vs 2022
- +6.3%5,117 in 2025, from 4,814
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Ivy in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ivie in English — spelling variant
- Ivey in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida. International figures from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Statistics Canada. Sources
Ivys among us
people named Ivy are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 314 born in 2025 was named Ivy
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Gail test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Ivy's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Gail climbed just as high around 1951, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Gail's path sketches the road Ivy is walking now.
Ivy is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Ivy is headed
Ivy looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 17% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Ivy beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Ivy in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Spelled the way the English word is spelled, so most people write it correctly on the first try.
- One settled pronunciation across every English-speaking country, with no regional variants to correct.
- Short enough to need no nickname, and it sits easily beside longer or more formal middle names.
- Charts in the US, England and Wales, Scotland and Canada in the same form — it travels without adjustment.
- A documented record as a given name going back to the Victorian botanical fashion, so it is a revival rather than a coinage.
- It is rising quickly, so a child born now is likely to meet more Ivys among her classmates than the current figures suggest.
- There is no natural short form and no long formal version to retreat to. Ivy is what she will be called in every register, from the playground to a résumé.
- The word carries other associations — the Ivy League, poison ivy — that children notice and joke about, usually briefly.
- It sits among many short vowel-led girls' names in use right now, so mishearings with Ava, Eva and Ada are common on the phone.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Ivy to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Ivy? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Ivy
Feminine · Old English roots · #39 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Ivys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 76,000 people named Ivy are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Ivy in 2025?
- Ivy ranks #39 among US girl names in 2025, with 5,117 babies given the name.
- How common is the name Ivy?
- About 1 in every 314 US girls born in 2025 was named Ivy — 5,117 in all.
- Will my child share the name Ivy with classmates?
- Ivy will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Ivy
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Grace#38 · Madison#40 · Avery#37 · Abigail#41 · Layla#36 · Elena#42 · Valentina#35 · Mila#43
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Ivy? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Ivy and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Or jump into a head-to-head
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration; international figures from national statistics agencies. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle